OPENERS: SUITS; KEEPS FLYING AND FLYING

By PATRICK McGEEHAN

Published: December 10, 2006

Is flying around in the corporate jet to attend to the business of another company just part of a chief executive's job or one more perquisite of corporate power? Energizer Holdings, the St. Louis battery maker, says it is not a perk, but federal regulators disagree.

In its latest proxy statement, the company said that most of the $42,000 in jet costs that its chief executive, Ward M. Klein, rang up last year was to attend board meetings of other organizations. Energizer said it believes this travel is a valid business expense and should not count as compensation, but noted that the Securities and Exchange Commission insisted it was a form of pay.

There certainly was a benefit to Mr. Klein. During his two years on the Amerus Group board, he got $20,000 and 3,500 options annually. When Aviva bought Amerus last month for $69 a share, his options netted him more than $125,000. PATRICK McGEEHAN